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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Poem: Col. Elderkin and the Battle of the Frogs

Mr. West of the blog West in New England challenged us to "find a poem by a local poet, famous or obscure, from the region one of your ancestors lived in" and post it on our blogs. He points out that "In the mid-to-late 19th century every region of America boasted of one or more poets whose works reflected local history and folklore."

He'll publish all the submitted links on Thanksgiving Day on his blog under Great American Local Poem Genealogy Challenge.

I LOVE this challenge because it shows another resource available to help us paint pictures of our ancestors' lives. It's the details between the dates that make them come alive in our hearts and in our minds. Thank you, Mr. West, for sharing your passion, your ideas, and your time to bring this together!

The poem I chose depicts a battle in which my 6th great grandfather, Jedediah Elderkin, was a main component. He was a Colonel during the American Revolution and signed the Connecticut Ratification of the U.S. Constitution. He was also a prominent lawyer and businessman in the little town of Windham, Connecticut. To this day residents know his name. The poem explains why...

The following poem was found within the pages of: Payne, Brigham. "The Bull-Frog Fight." The Story of Bacchus, and Centennial Souvenir. Hartford, CT: A. F. Brooks, 1876. 84-91. Print.

[ The verses following were published in the " Boston Museum" in 1851, and it is supposedly written by a native of Windham.]